Conversation,responsibility, and autism spectrum disorder

In this paper, I present a challenge for Michael McKenna’s conversational theory of moral responsibility. On his view, to be a responsible agent is to be able to engage in a type of moral conversation. I argue that individuals with autism spectrum disorder present a considerable problem for the conversational theory because empirical evidence on the disorder seems to suggest that there are individuals in the world who meet all of the conditions for responsible agency that the theory lays out but who are nevertheless not responsible agents. Attending to the moral psychology of such individuals will, I think, help shed light on an important gap in the conversational theory.     

Reasons-Responsiveness and Moral Responsibility: The Case of Autism

In this paper, I consider a novel challenge to John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza’s reasons-responsiveness theory of moral responsibility. According to their view, agents possess the control necessary for moral responsibility if their actions proceed from a mechanism that is moderately reasons-responsive. I argue that their account of moderate reasons-responsiveness fails to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for moral responsibility since it cannot give an adequate account of the responsibility of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Empirical evidence suggests that autistic individuals demonstrate impairments in counterfactual thinking, and these impairments, I argue, are such that they cast doubt on Fischer and Ravizza’s construal of moderate reasons-responsiveness. I then argue that modifying the view in order to accommodate individuals with ASD forces them to defend a strong reasons-responsive account despite the fact that they explicitly deny that such an account can adequately characterize what it is to be morally responsible for one’s actions.     

Pilot Trial of Acceptance-Based Behavioral Weight Loss and Neurocognition Among American Indians

Acceptance-based behavioral therapies (ABTs) for obesity may be superior to standard behavioral therapies but have not been adequately tested with American Indians (AIs). Neurocognitive function is also unexamined in relation to behavioral weight loss among AIs despite findings that neurocognition predicts outcomes in general samples, may help explain some of the benefits of ABTs, and may be relevant to marginalized groups. The primary objective of this pilot was to examine the feasibility/acceptability of ABT in an AI sample. Exploratory analyses examined the relationship between neurocognition and weight loss. Forty-eight AI adults with overweight/obesity (ages 43.3 ± 10.3 years, 85% female; baseline body mass index = 36.8 ± 4.4 kg/m²) enrolled in a 6-month open ABT weight loss trial. Feasibility indices, including screening/enrollment, session attendance, retention rates for posttreatment assessments, and program acceptability were examined. Percent weight loss (%WL) was assessed as well as fluid and crystalized neurocognition (National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognition Battery [NIHTB-CB]). We enrolled 79% of the eligible sample and retained 75% (N = 36) at posttreatment assessments. Program completers lost an average of 5.2 ± 4.9% of initial body weight (d_z = 1.14), whereas intent-to-treat analyses show a mean loss of 4.1 ± 4.7%. Participants reported high satisfaction, effectiveness, and cultural appropriateness. Exploratory analyses of neurocognitive domains suggested that crystalized cognition was higher among completers, and higher baseline cognitive flexibility predicted greater %WL (β = .34, p = .05). ABT resulted in clinically significant weight loss in an AI sample. A controlled trial of ABT in a larger, more diverse sample is warranted to determine whether (a) the findings are robust, generalizable, and/or superior to other treatments and (b) neurocognitive factors moderate outcomes.     

Alpha and evangelical conversion

A semi-structured interview study was conducted among 11 ‘Born Again’ Christians eliciting their conversion narratives. Informants emphasised the importance of embodying the Holy Spirit and developing a personal relationship with Christ in the process of conversion. The Alpha Course played an important role in this process.     

The need of courage

A brave man leaveth not the battle, He who flieth from it is no true warrior, In the field of this body a great war is toward Against Passion, Hunger, Pride and Greed, It is for the Kingdom of Truth, of Contentment and of Purity that this battle is raging: And the sword that ringeth most loudly is the sword Of His name.

—KABIR, Hindu Poet

     

The interplay of attention and emotion: top-down attention modulates amygdala activation in psychopathy

Psychopathic behavior has long been attributed to a fundamental deficit in fear that arises from impaired amygdala function. Growing evidence has demonstrated that fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and other psychopathy-related deficits are moderated by focus of attention, but to date, no work on adult psychopathy has examined attentional modulation of the amygdala or concomitant recruitment of relevant attention-related circuitry. Consistent with previous FPS findings, here we report that psychopathy-related differences in amygdala activation appear and disappear as a function of goal-directed attention. Specifically, decreased amygdala activity was observed in psychopathic offenders only when attention was engaged in an alternative goal-relevant task prior to presenting threat-relevant information. Under this condition, psychopaths also exhibited greater activation in selective-attention regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) than did nonpsychopaths, and this increased LPFC activation mediated psychopathy’s association with decreased amygdala activation. In contrast, when explicitly attending to threat, amygdala activation did not differ in psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. This pattern of amygdala activation highlights the potential role of LPFC in mediating the failure of psychopathic individuals to process fear and other important information when it is peripheral to the primary focus of goal-directed attention.     

When he doesn't mean you: gender-exclusive language as ostracism

Three studies assessed whether a common cultural practice, namely, the use of gender-exclusive language (e.g., using he to indicate he or she), is experienced as ostracism at the group level by women. Women responded to the use of gender-exclusive language (he) during a mock job interview with a lower sense of belonging, less motivation, and less expected identification with the job compared to others exposed to gender-inclusive (he or she) or gender-neutral ( one) language (Studies 1 and 2). Moreover, the more emotionally disengaged women became over the course of a job interview upon hearing gender-exclusive language, the less motivation and job identification they subsequently reported (Study 3). Together, these studies show that subtle linguistic cues that may seem trivial at face value can signal group-based ostracism and lead members of the ostracized group to self-select out of important professional environments.     

Propensity for risk taking and trait impulsivity in the Iowa Gambling Task

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is sensitive to decision making impairments in several clinical groups with frontal impairment. However the complexity of the IGT, particularly in terms of its learning requirements, makes it difficult to know whether disadvantageous (risky) selections in this task reflect deliberate risk taking or a failure to recognise risk. To determine whether propensity for risk taking contributes to IGT performance, we correlated IGT selections with a measure of propensity for risk taking from the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), taking into account potential moderating effects of IGT learning requirements, and trait impulsivity, which is associated with learning difficulties. We found that IGT and BART performance were related, but only in the later stages of the IGT, and only in participants with low trait impulsivity. This finding suggests that IGT performance may reflect different underlying processes in individuals with low and high trait impulsivity. In individuals with low trait impulsivity, it appears that risky selections in the IGT reflect in part, propensity for risk seeking, but only after the development of explicit knowledge of IGT risks after a period of learning.